


cage match

by menocchio



Series: balance [4]
Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Dueling POVs, Gen, Post-Season/Series 03, unrelenting angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:48:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28520385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/menocchio/pseuds/menocchio
Summary: tell me a story that doesn't end with you leaving again
Relationships: Robby Keene & Johnny Lawrence
Series: balance [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040426
Comments: 18
Kudos: 59





	cage match

**Author's Note:**

> This formatting works best in a browser, works alright on a phone, and probably not great on an e-reader.

robby  
(strike)

| 

| 

johnny  
(block)  
  
---|---|---  
  
| 

|   
  
tell me a story  
that doesn't end with you leaving  
again.

| 

|   
  
(do you know any other kind?)

| 

|   
  
do they sound like the lies  
you told yourself all those years  
about your sensei

| 

|   
  
what he did to you;

| 

|   
  
someone cares enough  
to inflict that kind of pain,  
you don't just walk away from them.

| 

| 

the hardest part about facing you  
is knowing i cause you pain  
just by being here.  
  
or maybe you do  
i wouldn't know.

| 

| 

every time i think  
it will be different.  
  
no one ever fucking  
sticks around,  
not for me.

| 

| 

i'll be stronger, better.  
but then i see  
your face.  
  
| 

|   
  
hit me.

| 

| 

stop it.  
  
| 

|   
  
even now you screw with my head,  
(shit that was a sloppy punch)  
and i've never needed a blow to land  
more badly  
in my life.

| 

| 

i know it's bad to think this right now,  
(really, i know)  
but part of me can't help notice  
you've fought better  
in the past.  
  
| 

|   
  
maybe i am a monster  
but i was yours.  
and you never even tried  
it might have been okay if you'd just  
tried.

| 

  
  


| 

you terrify me  
because you're mine.  
and you needed me  
no one ever needed me  
before.  
  
it's too late now  
i am who i am,  
and you'll always be you.

| 

| 

it's different now  
your life isn't over,  
and i can be better than i was.  
  
| 

|   
  
fucking fight me

| 

| 

please stop  
  
| 

|   
  
you must know, dad  
even a place like juvie  
has a social contract.

| 

| 

i've been in trouble before  
if you let it stick  
it'll drag you down.  
  
(never snitch)

| 

| 

(i lost decades)  
  
i'm not an idiot.  
i know what kreese is  
and what he isn't.  
his dojo feels like a jail rec room  
left unsupervised

| 

| 

you're too young.  
you think you've no choice,  
he'll feed that belief.  
blindfold you and set you  
in front of a trapdoor.  
  
but i understand his rules  
and his place for me.

| 

| 

and you think if you just obey him  
you'll be spared.  
  
| 

| 

but there is no mercy.  
  
| 

| 

no grace, no peace  
and it will gnaw at you.  
you'll become like me.  
  
| 

| 

(surely _that_ has to make an impression on you?)  
  
| 

| 

i don't know what else to say except,  
robby, i'm  
sorry, i'm so sorry.


End file.
